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MALTATODAY 2 February 2020

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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2020 5 THIS WEEK HISTORY very well with the overall mystic feel of some of the chambers. Lady Catarina is young girl who follows her heart and her instinct over the dictates of conventional values, but she's cursed to live at a time when freedom of choice was a luxury for some, and espe- cially women." Marvin Zammit Game Developer, Mighty Box Expect the Interactive "The technology allows a us- er to walk around the Palaz- zo, looking at objects inside the room through their mobile camera. Certain objects will come to life, becoming animat- ed, or offering some interaction through the mobile's touch screen. More simply, by looking at objects through your mobile, some of them will move or ani- mate, and you can see new ob- jects which aren't there in real life. You will be able to collect objects, use collected objects with other objects, and thereby unravel the mystery of the Pala- zzo." Technical Challenges "There were several challeng- es in a project of this magni- tude, but the primary technical ones were the following. First of all, we wanted the app to run on as wide a variety of devices as possible, and also wanted it to look beautiful, seamlessly matching the ambience of the Palazzo. At the same time, in order for the people to enjoy the full experience we wanted the app not to be too taxing on the battery life of the devices, so that they could go through the full tour of the Palazzo without fully draining their mobile battery. "Secondly, most AR apps work by having the users scan print- ed markers, but in this case we didn't want to use such markers for two reasons: namely because inside Palazzo Falson, being a historical building, printed markers would not look good; and secondly because we wanted the users to look for items they could interact with, and not see a marker and go directly to it. So, we had to use a markerless technology, which is a big chal- lenge with current technology to work well with a wide variety of devices. "Several huge steps have been made over the past few years, even during the development of this project itself, and yet markerless technology is still an area which is undergoing a lot of development. So we've been working with cutting edge tech- nologies which were also con- stantly changing. This was not easy on the development team, to say the least. But we do like challenges, and took it all in our stride, and we're happy with the final result." Secrets of Palazzo Falson can be downloaded for free on a smart phone or tablet upon purchase of a ticket at Palazzo Falson Historic House Museum in Mdina. The game is suitable for ages 12+. Use of own head- phones is recommended. The entrance ticket also entitles the visitor to tour the museum and is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm (last entry at 4pm). For more information call on 2145 4512 or send an email to bookings@palazzofal- son.com Left: Caroline Tonna, Eleni Papadopoulou and Marvin Zammit

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